Street Kitchen Asian Bistro seeks street cred in the southern suburbs

Suburbs are rarely known as culinary meccas, and the sprawling subdevelopments to the south of Denver are no exception to this rule. But since the Tech Center and other business complexes attract commuting cubicle warriors in droves, a few restaurateurs with already-established urban locations ventured south last year, opening trendy...

By Laura Shunk

January 10, 2012

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Suburbs are rarely known as culinary meccas, and the sprawling subdevelopments to the south of Denver are no exception to this rule. But since the Tech Center and other business complexes attract commuting cubicle warriors in droves, a few restaurateurs with already-established urban locations ventured south last year, opening trendy new joints in the Vallagio, a retail-and-housing complex near Dry Creek and I-25, where they hoped they'd attract a lunch crowd of people starved for more interesting bites.

One of those restaurateurs was Mary Nguyen, who has pleased Uptown diners with her upscale French-Vietnamese place, Parallel 17, for six years now. For Street Kitchen Asian Bistro, her spot in the Vallagio that opened last January, she expanded her repertoire, including dishes that pulled from the street fare of five Asian nations.

For this week's review, I stopped by Street Kitchen again and again, sampling the dishes that Nguyen is offering in the southern suburbs.

Does Street Kitchen have streed cred? Find out tomorrow when the review is posted here.

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Laura Shunk was Westword's restaurant critic from 2010 to 2012; she's also been food editor at the Village Voice and a dining columnist in Beijing. Her toughest assignment had her drinking ten martinis and eating ten Caesar salads over the course of 48 hours. She still drinks martinis, but remains lukewarm on Caesar salads.

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